Sustainable Brands ‘12 Conference

Executives from CNN, Walmart, Safeway, Ford, Coca-Cola will be amongst the more than 1,000 Attendees at Game-changing Sustainable Brands ‘12 Conference in San Diego CA, taking place on June 4 – 7, 2012.  As reviewed in a May 8, 2012 press release, attendees at the Conference will collaborate and share sustainability strategies and insights in response to mounting environmental and social pressures and shifting consumer demand. The theme of SB'12 is “The Revolution Will Be Branded”, and over 80 sessions will explore the unfolding market drivers and cutting-edge strategies for building business and brand value by innovating for sustainability.

Odd Yet Effective Green Inventions

Here are nine strange yet useful inventions that are geared towards energy generation, efficiency or diminishing environmental impacts. 

An energy generating soccer ball: Known as the sOccket, this invention is a fully functional soccer ball that uses the kinetic energy generated during a soccer game to build up a charge in its built-in battery. This battery can then by used to power small devices like cell phones.

A bio robot fridge: This new Electrolux concept makes use of “bio robots” suspended in gel to cool food and drink in a unique, door-less fridge system. Four times smaller than a conventional refrigerator, the Bio Robot cools biopolymer gel through luminescence. The non sticky, odourless gel morphs around products to create a separate pod that suspends items. The fridge operates without a motor and comes in different sizes that can be hung vertically, horizontally, and even on the ceiling.

A method of harnessing wind vibration: This small scale wind energy charger harvests the vibration of the wind to power smart building sensors. A company called Humdinger Wind Energy LLC, has invented a device called the microBelt. It is a piezoelectric turbine-based system that is 10 times more effective at gathering energy than other systems of the same size. The system uses aeroelastic flutter and vibration of a membrane rather than a spinning turbine. It is intended to replace the batteries used in wireless sensor networks (WSN). It has a long life span of 20 years and is ideal for HVAC units.

A solar powered DIY washing machine: This project was developed by students at the École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence in France. They built a solar-powered washing machine using only materials available in the Saharan desert. What makes this project so interesting is the fact that it has been developed from readily available materials for the 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to some of the basic amenities including clean water and electricity.

Using human remains as fertilizer: This technique transforms human corpes into 200 gallons of liquid that can be used as fertilizer. With approximately 150000 people dying each day (62 million people dying each year), human remains are a significant source of toxic chemicals. A company called Resomation Ltd., has developed a process of disposing of human corpses that uses alkaline hydrolysis, however, unlike cremation and traditional burial, alkaline hydrolysis doesn’t lead to toxic chemicals like dioxin and formaldehyde being released into the atmosphere or water supply. It also uses 80 percent less energy than standard cremation.

An Eco-friendly coffin: This coffin lowers the environmental impact of your burial. Created by Ecoffins, these coffins use natural products like bamboo, willow branches, banana leaves and pine planks. They are designed to decompose fairly quickly and are not made with any products that could damage the surrounding soil.

An electric YikeBike ‘mini-farthing,’: This electric vehicle is a cross between an e-bike and a Segway. The YikeBike mini-farthing is the smallest, and at 10kg, the lightest electric folding bike in the world, enabling people to take it on buses, trains, and cars and store it easily under a desk or in a cupboard.

The ONDA Urinal Hand Washing Station: This invention uses uses only half the water needed for conventional urinals. With the growing scarcity of water and millions of urinals in the world, this system could make big difference. When the urinal is flushed, water first passes through a space for hand washing, then the same water is flushed to the urinal portion of the system and is disposed of as waste water.

The waterless urinal: This novel system uses gravity to deliver urine into the waste water system. With water shortages on the increase these urinals are an important way of conserving potable water. Distributors say the break-even point for most facilities who install waterless urinals is achieved within the first 12 to 24 months.

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10 Best Eco-Inventions of 2010

Green inventions are being driven by market demand for products that enhance efficiency and reduce pollution. As the world recovers from a devastating recession, these inventions are helping to power the growth of national economies. In the UK, an expedited patent process has been introduced to fast track green inventions. Around the world people are innovating sustainable processes and creating green inventions. Here is a summary of some of the best green inventions of 2010.

1. Carbon Absorbent Foam is the winner of the 2010 Earth Awards. This foam can grab carbon out of the air and lock it away as a sugar. It is ideally suited to be placed in smokestacks to remove carbon before it is emitted into the atmosphere.

2. eCoupled Wireless Tesla Charger is a new system capable of charging Tesla's electric vehicles without wires or plugs. This system will recharge Tesla's electric vehicles via an induction pad at distances up to 4".

3. nPower PEG is a kinetic energy charger. It is the world's first handheld charger that captures and stores an individual's kinetic energy. This tiny power charger capture kinetic energy from daily activities and transforms it into electricity that can power mobile gadgets.

4. Solar Charger that Runs Devices Directly. Developed by Suntactics, this new portable solar charger is powerful enough to charge your phone and other mobile gadets using nothing but solar energy.

5. IDAPT Universal Gadget Charger is made from recycled materials and is able to power almost all wireless devices.

6. Solar Power Parking Meters: In LA, new solar-powered, wireless-connected, single-space parking meters take coins or cards.

7. Biodegradable Motor Oil Although it was developed a few years ago by Green Earth Technologies, in 2010 they began running their first TV ads. The biodegradable motor oil is made out of a mixture of beef tallow and plant ingredients.

8. Polli Bricks – a low-carbon form of cladding made from recycled plastic bottles that can be wrapped around buildings to insulate them. They come studded with solar-power LED lights and cost around ten times less than conventional cladding.

9. The Sustainable Shell, a biodegradable home that can be built from the soil on which it sits. These design principles can help anyone build a strong, sustainable shelter.

10. A Malaysian designer has created a range of "KAYU" sunglasses which are hand-crafted from bamboo – a fast-growing, biodegradable and low-carbon alternative to plastic. For every pair of sunglasses bought, Lim donates $20 towards surgery that restores sight in the developing world.

Green inventions are growing and it is getting easier to bring green inventions to market. Although there are numerous sites designed to connect VC Investors with great ideas, a site known as OnGreen is looking to become the world’s largest database specializing in green inventions. This site creates funding opportunities for green inventors.


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Sustainable Brands Innovation Open Finalists

Earlier this year Sustainable Life Media (SLM) announced the top 11 finalists for Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SB’IO). On Monday June 7, 2010, these brands will began presenting their products and services in a bid to impress the SB’IO judges. There are many well known companies associated with SB’IO, here is a review of the 11 new innovative sustainable brand finalists for 2010:

BioLite is an affordable, ultra low emission, wood burning cook stove for the 3 billion people that cook on wood. The BioLite stove features patent-pending technology to harness the fire’s own waste heat to drive the stove’s efficient process. The result is a product that cuts wood consumption in half, reduces toxic smoke emissions by 95% and nearly eliminates black carbon, a potent climate warmer.

Blue Avocado™ is a mission-driven, lifestyle products company that makes it EASY to DO GOOD and GET IT DONE™. A women-owned business started in November 2009, Blue Avocado offers lifestyle products that inspire people to easily reduce their environmental impact, look good and have fun doing it. The gro-pak™ reusable shopping system (which helps to eliminate 1,000 plastic bags annually), Lunch Tote, and Big Chil are just a few members of the Blue Avocado family of reusable and collapsible products that deliver value, avoid waste and invite people to take the first step on the green journey.

Cityscape Farms creates urban greenhouse systems for year round productions of sustainable and local fresh food. Using underutilized parts of the urban landscape such as vacant lots and rooftops, Cityscape Farms aims to transform cities into net food producers instead of merely consumers. The farming is aquaponics, a closed loop system that combines aquaculture (fish cultivation) and hydroponics (soilless farming) whereby filtered fish effluent becomes nutrient feed for crops. It’s efficient, scalable and well-suited for urban applications, does not rely on petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides and is eligible for USDA organic certification.

The Clarity Project is a fine jewelry social enterprise committed to improving the quality of life for miners and their families. They source only fair diamonds, gems and precious metals, and invest all of their net profits back into mining communities.

KOR is creating sustainable hydration with thoughtfully-designed hydration products that deliver a stylish, healthy and rewarding consumer experience. KOR’s mission is to celebrate and protect water. Leveraging reusable bottles, filtered water solutions, and portable water enhancements, KOR products bridge the gaping divide between the traditional reusable market and the latent market of consumers simply waiting to find a better alternative to the $50 billion global bottled water market.

Myoo Create is a new crowdsourcing community, generating innovative ideas and solutions to social and environmental problems through prize driven challenges. The custom-designed competitions are an effective way for organizations to engage with customers and the wider community to help build their sustainability story and brand reputation.

Open Data Registry’s patent-pending Internet Product Code (IPC) is a specialized unique identifier (URI) embedded with environmental and product life cycle semantics. It innovates upon UPC / EPC in two key ways: (1) Defining a product’s identity based upon how it was made, rather than who made it; (2) Storing that identity on the Web, rather than in a restricted-access database, such that anyone in the world may freely link any data to or look up any other data across the Web linked to that IPC.

Source4Style makes sustainable design possible by creating the world’s most innovative online marketing platform for designers and suppliers to showcase, connect and transact. Source4Style is poised to become the definitive B2B portal for sustainable design, offering interactive tools that decrease the barriers to ethical global sourcing. Robust search capabilities, interactivesourcing maps, online negotiation tools and breadth of trusted content on environmentally-friendly and fair trade materials will make sustainable design the norm.

Tremont Electric develops and commercializes renewable power generation solutions based on its patented nPower® energy conversion technology. The nPower® intellectual property is centered exclusively on the interaction between electromagnetic fields and the physical world. The initial product, the nPower® PEG, is a $149 wearable generator that recharges cell phones, Mp3 players, cameras and GPS devices by harvesting the kinetic energy generated by human motion, through activities like walking, jogging or riding a bike.

TrueVue Solutions is a software and information company that helps customers discover and quantify the financial risk attached to current environmental and social factors, providing SDR data and access to benchmarking data from hundreds of indicators across 100 industries to help customers understand how they rank within their industry.

ZippGo rents and delivers a zero waste moving box solution to residential and office clients. Sustainable pack and move solution consists of reusable moving boxes made from 100% recycled plastic, a custom-made reusable and recyclable moving dolly, and sustainable packing supplies made from recycled post consumer paper. ZippGo delivers the boxes to the client on biodiesel powered delivery trucks, the client packs and moves their belonging, and ZippGo picks up the boxes from the client’s new location at their convenience. ZippGo boxes come pre-assembled (no tape required) with attached lids, have handles for carrying, are crush proof, tear proof, and water proof.

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Best Eco-Inventions 2009

There were a host of greener inventions in 2009 and they include everything from tooth brushes to a planetary nervous system.

The term "eco-inventions" is composed of "eco" the short form of ecology, defined as the branch of biology concerned with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. The word "invention" is defined as the creation of a new device or process, resulting from study and experimentation.

In the simplist terms, eco-inventions can claim one or more of the following: They save materials, they reduce energy, they increase efficiency, and they promote recycling or repurposing.

Some of the best inventions of 2009 involve monitoring technology. NASA and Cisco have teamed up to develop the "Planetary Skin," it will integrate land, sea, air and space-based sensors, helping the public and private sectors make decisions to prevent and adapt to climate change. The pilot project will track geographically specific carbon levels held by rain forests. A prototype will be released in 2010.

Researchers from Princeton University have developed a method of measuring the Personal Carbon Footprint. Their efforts stress individual carbon emissions rather than national levels.

Some of the more widely available green inventions include portable solar or wind powered rechargers for personal electronics like mobile phones and mp3 players. Although not a new technology, support.com's free “Green Computer” service helps people save energy and money. This service makes your computer more energy efficient and can save up to $75 dollars per year, equivalent to 400 to 1200 pounds of CO2 emissions. Seemingly small efforts add up, if one hundred thousand people used support.com's Green Computer service the carbon savings would be equivalent to planting 1000 acres of trees.

Recently Time magazine published its list of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009 and green innovations figured prominently in their list. As the year draws to a close, The Green Market will post a summary of 25 of the best eco-inventions of 2009. These inventions will be presented under the following 6 headings:

1. Energy Production
2. Energy Efficiency
3. Transportation
4. Consumer Goods
5. Education
6. Food/Water

From large scale projects to small scale creations, green inventions and energy innovation are the way of the future.
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Next: The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Production / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Energy Efficiency / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Transportation / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Consumer Goods / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Education / The Best Eco-Inventions of 2009: Food and Water

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